Starsbourg, 14 March 2022 (MIA) – The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), in its latest decision adopted on March 9 and released on Monday, expressed deep concern at the fact that almost 16 years after the first final judgement in the United Macedonian Organisation Ilinden and Others group v. Bulgaria, associations aiming to “achieve the recognition of the Macedonian minority” continue to be routinely refused registration and that this seems at present mainly due to a wider problem of disapproval of their goals. In the decision, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe recalled that this group of cases concerns unjustified refusals of the courts, between 1999 and 2015, to register associations aiming to achieve the recognition of “the Macedonian minority in Bulgaria”, MIA’s correspondent reports. “The refusals of the courts are based on considerations of national security, protection of public order and the rights of others (goals aiming at “the recognition of the Macedonian minority” and alleged separatist ideas) and on the constitutional prohibition on associations pursuing political goals, as well as failure to meet formal legal requirements (violations of Article 11),” reads the decision. The Committee expressed deep concern that despite the adoption of the Interim Resolution CM/ResDH(2020)197 and the decisions of June 2021, the most recent registration requests initiated by the applicant associations have again been rejected on grounds related to the associations’ goals or grounds related to a confused interpretation of the associations’ statutes, constantly rejected by the European Court. “The Council of Europe invited again the authorities to clarify the existence and legal basis of a practice of obliging associations to register under a public utility status,” says the Committee. In addition, the Committee of Ministers, which includes representatives of 46 member countries of the Council of Europe, stressed that the present judgments do not give rise to an obligation to recognise a group of persons as a minority but clearly require domestic authorities not to refuse registration on grounds, which have been repeatedly rejected by the European Court related to the associations’ goals. The Committee of Ministers noted with interest that, the authorities in Bulgaria have elaborated “Principle Positions” for registration officers and a manual for associations concerning registration requirements, which are to be finalised and published, and have included in a road map the extension of the obligation of the Agency to give instructions for the rectification of registration files. It also noted with interest the letter of the Minister of Justice of Bulgaria of October 2021 containing a high-level message on the execution of these cases, while noting that the positive results of these steps remain to be demonstrated. The Committee strongly urged the authorities in Bulgaria to ensure that any new registration request of the applicant associations or associations similar to them is examined in full compliance with Article 11 of the Convention. The Committee of Ministers requested them to provide information on all the above issues by 30 September 2022 demonstrating concrete progress regarding the individual measures and decided to resume the examination of this group of cases at their DH meeting in December 2022.